


This is Halloween

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [36]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Candy, Disney Movies, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Hey we've reached number 20 in this series!, Non-Sexual Age Play, Popcorn, We did it guys!!!, for once, nobody gets hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 06:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8435266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: It's October 31st circa 2004 in Gibbs' household, and the whole family comes over to celebrate. Happy Halloween!





	

Tony ran down the stairs at Gibbs' house, a huge smile on his face as he did so. Laughter followed in his wake, and Gibbs knew that whatever he just did was probably going to land him in some sort of trouble. Gibbs walked over to his youngest and pulled him into a hug. "Woah, there, partner, where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Nowhere, Papa," Tony said innocently.

Gibbs sighed and swung Tony with his feet an inch above the floor so that he was facing the living room. Tony was already in his Andy costume from _Toy Story_ , had been ever since the team had gotten home. Gibbs always found it funny that Tony took Halloween so seriously, but accepted it as something that was just _Tony_. Of course, that didn't mean he liked that Tony convinced him to dress up.

"Tony! You get back here!" Katie yelled from the bathroom.

  
_Oh, boy_ , Gibbs thought. _Here we go_. "Tony, what did you do?"

"Nothin'!" Tony said, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Tony," Gibbs warned. "What. Did. You. Do."

The boy's smile wavered and he frowned. "I talked to Timmy about a prank, 's all. I didn' do anything to Katie yet."

Gibbs sighed. "Timmy, get down here please!"

There was the sound of something-or someone-bumping into a wall frantically upstairs and Timmy shouted down, "I'm okay! Gimme a sec!"

Gibbs waited at the bottom of the stairs...and waited...and waited. He rolled his eyes. He gave Tony a nudge towards the living room. "How about you go ahead and play for a little bit, kiddo. Papa's got to see what Timmy's been up to."

Tony wandered into the living room, nodding. Gibbs sighed. At least on Halloween when Tony was in a good mood, he'd listen to his papa. He took the stairs two at a time and nearly ran into Katie, who was standing just outside the bathroom, her shirt sopping wet, from what Gibbs figured was Timmy's latest attempt to be funny. Gibbs sighed and turned to the nursery, finding the door cracked open but no Timmy in sight. He pushed the door in further, though it seemed much more weighted than usual. "Timmy?" he asked.

"'M here," a voice behind the door mumbled. "I got caught on the handle an' I can't get off it..."

Gibbs walked around the door and fought the urge to laugh out loud. Timmy was in his Slinky Dog costume and the spiral had wrapped itself around the doorknob. Timmy was tugging at it, but it wouldn't budge. "Stop laughin' at me," Timmy said defensively.

"Wasn't laughing," Gibbs said neutrally. "Let's get you unstuck, and you can explain what you did to Katie."

"What makes you say _I_  did anything?" Timmy protested.

"Because you're usually the one to blame," Gibbs teased. "Need I go over the list of pranks I confiscated from you and Tony?"

Timmy mumbled and toed the floor as Gibbs undid the spring part of Timmy's costume from the door. "Now, then," Gibbs said, crossing his arms and putting on his sternest face. "What did you do to Katie?"

"I-I didn't--" Timmy took one look at Gibbs' face and dropped the innocent act. "I put tape over the sink faucet so it would spray her when she turned it on. I told Tony about it an' warned him to be away from the bathroom so he wouldn' get in trouble."

"Next time, don't tell Tony at all. He gave you away immediately," Gibbs said, smiling a little. "We'll talk about this quickly, since our guests will be here any minute."

Katie walked in the room, slapping Timmy upside the head. "Out! I need to change, thanks to you."

"Into the Bo Peep costume?" Timmy asked hopefully.

"No, into the Godzilla costume," Katie quipped. "Because I bought an entirely new costume _just_  to ruin Tony's Halloween theme."

Timmy grinned and walked out of the room, and Gibbs followed, closing the nursery door. He looked Timmy over, trying to decide if there was anything he could do to show the boy his prank was not appreciated while not excluding him from the festivities tonight. Timmy shifted in place. "Am I in trouble?"

"Not much," Gibbs explained. "Can I have your wrist?"

Timmy frowned but extended his wrist, palm facing the ceiling. Gibbs grabbed Timmy's hand to hold it in place and gave him a firm swat right over Timmy's vein. He yelped in surprise. "A slap on the wrist," Gibbs said. "You need to find pranks that won't pose a risk to someone or their things, kiddo."

"Okay, Papa," Timmy said.

"You say that, and then you turn around and do things like this," Gibbs teased. "Have you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?"

Timmy offered a small smile. "Yeah..."

Gibbs nodded. "Don't be the boy who cried wolf."

The doorbell rang and Gibbs was overtaken by a chorus of his kids yelling, "They're here!" Gibbs chuckled and went to answer the door, Timmy following at his heels, and Tony rushing to the edge of the living room.

Opening the door, Gibbs was tackled in one of Abby's patented, guaranteed-to-crush-your-ribs hugs. "Hey, Abs, how's my favorite niece doing?"

Abby took a step back and showed off her Jessie costume. "Great! Do you like my costume?"

Gibbs nodded. "You look fantastic. I'm not sure my Woody does your Jessie justice."

Abby laughed. "That's okay! You're more Woody for Dad than Woody for anyone else, save Tony."

Gibbs smiled as she moved into the house and he finally got a good look at Ducky and Jimmy. Jimmy was decked out in a green T-Rex costume, half-hiding behind Ducky, who had managed to find a Buzz Lightyear costume which was complete with foldable cardboard wings. "Come in, both of you," Gibbs said, stepping out of the doorway.

Ducky walked in and Jimmy shuffled behind, gripping one of Ducky's wings. "Where is young Anthony? I memorized some lines from the _Toy Story_ movies in an attempt to amuse him."

"That's a good question," Gibbs said, glancing in the living room and finding Tony wasn't there. "He probably found the--"

"Candy!" Tony shouted from the kitchen. "Papa! _There's candy_!"

Gibbs hung his head and gestured toward the kitchen. "That. Hey, don't eat it all, Tony, we need to save some for the trick-or-treaters!"

Ducky chuckled as Jimmy took a couple steps away from him, looking toward the kitchen. He turned to Gibbs. "Is it all right for Jimmy to have some candy as well? I imagine he has not allowed himself to indulge for some time, and I made sure he took his insulin."

Gibbs nodded. "If you know how much he can have, then go ahead. I also have some treats that are less sugary for everyone as well, so he doesn't feel left out."

"That's kind of you, Jethro, thank you."

Gibbs shrugged. "Only seemed fair to the kid."

Timmy wrapped his arms around Gibbs from behind and whined. Gibbs chuckled. "What's up, kiddo? Tired of the adults having a boring talk and want to say hi?"

"Yeah," Timmy said.

Gibbs laughed and disentangled himself. "Someone wants to say hello, Duck. I'm going to go check on Katie, make sure that nothing's going wrong with her costume."

He walked up to the nursery and knocked on the door. "Katie? Sweetheart, is everything okay?"

Katie opened the door with a relieved smile. "I was wondering when you'd realize I hadn't appeared yet. Can you tie my dress in the back? It keeps falling down without the ribbon tied."

Gibbs nodded and motioned for her to turn around. When she did so, he tied the ribbon Katie was waving toward, giving it an extra hard tug to make sure it would stay tight. "That should do it, sweetheart. You look great."

Katie smiled and bounced out of the nursery and down the stairs, and Gibbs followed. Everyone was downstairs in the living room, eating the candy or other junk food Gibbs had stocked up on for tonight, or just talking to each other in excited tones. Gibbs looked over everyone and smiled. He felt in his bones that this was how it should be, always. He walked forward and turned on the TV, following the instructions DiNozzo and McGee had given him on how to work the DVD player everyone had chipped in to buy, and pulled out the _Toy Story_  cases, for both films. He could hear Tony bouncing on the couch from a combination or sugar and pure excitement. He put the DVD for the first film in and looked behind him. Tony, Jimmy, and Ducky were sitting on the couch. The arm chair was suspiciously empty of any of his kids, and Abby was perched next to the table, where all the candy was. Timmy and Katie were sitting on the floor next to Abby, quietly debating who got to lie down closer to the TV, because "you got to sit there _last_  time," and "if you had bothered to remember when we watched _Jurassic Park_ , you'd know it was _my_  turn to sit closer."

"You all ready?" Gibbs asked.

Everyone stopped murmuring and turned toward the TV, and Gibbs closed the DVD player, letting the movie start automatically. He settled into his arm chair and didn't miss how when Katie won the spot closer to the TV, Timmy scooted backward a little so he was closer to Gibbs.

The doorbell rang and Gibbs stood, walking to the kitchen and grabbing the bowl of candy that hadn't been touched yet, walking to the door and opening it. In front of him were a little boy and girl, both in superhero costumes, with pillowcases in hand. "Trick-or-treat!" they chorused.

Gibbs chuckled. "Nice costumes! Here you go!" he said, handing out the candy.

The two left and Gibbs set the bowl on the table next to the door, heading back to his armchair. And so went the night. _Toy Story_  had the kids enraptured while trick-or-treaters visited Gibbs' door. He and Ducky would sometimes alternate who answered the door, and even sometimes went together, which made the kids at the door light up when they realized that the two had matching costumes. As the first movie ended, Gibbs made a tally of all the kids' states. Tony was clearly on a sugar high, having taken all the candy corn he could find from the bowl of candy and eating it throughout the movie. Timmy was surrounded by lollipop wrappers and currently had 2 different ones in his mouth at once. Katie, at least, was a bit more responsible, but she had indulged in the candy as well as the popcorn Gibbs had set out, and had crumbs all over her dress. Gibbs looked over at Abby, and while she was energetic, it wasn't much more than usual. She must have spaced out her sugar binges over the movie. Jimmy was the only one who wasn't on some sort of sugar high, because he had Ducky monitoring his sugar intake. Even with insulin, Palmer erred on the side of caution, and had probably given Ducky specific instructions on how much candy he would allow himself to eat beforehand.

"Should we put on the next movie?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, but can we go trick-or-treating first, Papa?" Tony requested.

Timmy turned to Tony first, then Gibbs. "Can we?" he asked with quiet excitement.

"We don't really go trick-or-treating, Timmy," Katie explained. "It's fun in theory, but a lot of people would stare at you and some might outright deny you any candy, which is no fun at all."

Timmy deflated. "Oh..."

Abby gave him a playful nudge. "Hey, it's still fun to dress up, right? And we still have tons of candy to eat, with popcorn! And movies! I think this is almost better than trick-or-treating, because I get to be with you guys and have everything I would have trick-or-treating anyway!"

"I wouldn' wanna go trick-treatin' anyway," Jimmy piped up. "Lotsa people would ask why I was, an' I don' like bein' asked lotsa questions."

Tony seemed unfazed with his notion of going trick-or-treating, however. "I wanna go outside and go trick-or-treating!" he defended. "It's not the same if we don't go trick-or-treating!"

Gibbs sighed. Every year he had this debate with Tony. "Kiddo, you _know_  why we can't go out and trick-or-treat. The last time you even walked around in costume outside, everyone was asking you if you had lost your kid and if you needed help looking. People just don't understand what we do."

Tony scrunched up his face in disgust. "Well they should!" he exclaimed.

Gibbs nodded. "They should, but they don't, so we stay in here. Would you like to sit on my lap for the next movie?"

Tony nodded and Gibbs stood up, switched the movies in the DVD player, went over to the couch, picked up Tony, and carried him back to his arm chair. "You're on candy duty, Duck," he said.

Ducky nodded. "Yes, it does seem easier that way, doesn't it?"

The next movie started and once again the kids were engrossed. The trick-or-treaters thinned out slowly but surely, and as the night went on and the movie reached its climax, the kids were starting to get tired. Gibbs was feeling ready to get some sleep himself. In fact, when he opened his eyes from his introspection, the movie was over and Tony was getting squirmy on his lap. Gibbs stretched as best he could and announced, "I think it's time for all my littles to go to bed."

Tony, Timmy and Katie groaned. "I'm not tired!" Timmy protested, for once seemingly completely awake during his protest.

Katie stood and brushed the crumbs from her dress. "I can help clean up," she said.

"I'm cleaning up tomorrow," Gibbs said, wrapping his arms around Tony and standing with a pop in his knees. "Until then, you need your rest."

"I don't _wanna_  sleep, Papa," Tony whined.

"Come now, young Anthony," Ducky reasoned. "Your papa is giving you the chance to wake up feeling better than ever, but that will only happen if you go to bed at a reasonable hour. You want to feel good after sleeping, right?"

Tony nodded.

"Well, then, as I believe Buzz Lightyear would say, 'To the bedroom, and beyond!'"

Abby groaned from her position on the floor. "That was terrible, Dad."

Ducky chuckled at her response before turning to Gibbs. "Jethro, I don't mean to overstay our welcome--"

"You can stay the night, I don't mind. The guest room's always open to you 3," Gibbs said. "Now, kids, to bed."

He carried Tony up the stairs while Timmy and Katie trailed behind. He got everyone in bed quickly, and noticed with satisfaction that Timmy crashed like a rock after the sugar rush wore off. He walked into the guest room, where he found Ducky setting everything up already. "I've been here often enough to know where everything is, Jethro, you rest. After all, you'll be the one who has to deal with your team tomorrow at work."

"Don't remind me," Gibbs laughed. "McGee's going to be downing coffee all day if I don't keep an eye on him; he'll go into sugar withdrawal, and then caffeine withdrawal, and I really don't want to go through that again."

"I imagine not," Ducky said. "Go to bed. We can talk over breakfast in the morning."

Gibbs nodded. "Night, Duck." He walked to his own room, stripping down to his boxers and climbing into bed. He knew that tomorrow was going to be complicated, and not just because the worst killers crawled out of the woodwork around Halloween. He'd have a sugar-deprived team to deal with. But he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, he needed sleep.

As he drifted off, he felt that this was the best Halloween he had with his family yet, and he couldn't wait for the next one to roll around. What theme would Tony try to get them to do next...?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! Nice to talk to you again! I hope you enjoyed this little Halloween ficlet! True to my word, I did some drawing/coloring recently, even if it's not that good and there's no way I'm posting it on AO3, you can see it on the Tumblr blog here: http://gibbsfamily.tumblr.com/post/152359773530/see-tony-if-you-take-your-hand-out-of-your Hope you all have a spooky night! One important thing before I go: November is National Novel Writing Month, where you attempt to write 50,000 words in the span of 30 days. Some of you may have heard of it? Well, I'm participating, which means I'll be mostly away from the series for a month. I have _some_ content which I can spread out over the course of November, but not a lot, so don't worry, okay? I will come back to the series, but I need to finish my novel first. Little me sends you _ALL_ the love! Talk to you guys later!


End file.
